All of Hong Kong’s civil servants will have to swear allegiance to the city and the Basic Law, and risk violating national security laws if they breach that oath, the civil service minister says.

Recruits hired on or after July 1 will be arranged to declare their commitment to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Older hires in the civil service will also take turns to undergo the process.

The government was set to announce details of the arrangement in mid-October, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip said at a closed-door meeting with civil servants' groups on Tuesday. Job candidates who refused to take the oath would not be hired, he added.

A breach of the oath would constitute running afoul of Article 99 of the Basic Law, as well as articles 3 and 6 of the national security law, which stated that the people of Hong Kong had a responsibility to “safeguard the sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity” of China, he said.

Nip said that any breaches of the oath would be handled “in accordance with the law,” but did not specify if the offending civil servants would be subjected to internal disciplinary mechanisms or law enforcement, a source present at the meeting said.

The source told Apple Daily that Nip took a “firm stance” when asked about the penalties, and that attendees of the meeting were “stunned” at the minister drawing a connection between civil servants' oath-taking and national security.

Suzanne Tong, chairperson of the Federation of Civil Service Union, said that the government should clarify in writing what actions would be considered breaching the oath.

Many union members were afraid of getting into trouble for expressing opinions on social media, Tong said. She recalled Nip saying at the meeting that social media posts which were visible to everyone would be “a bit dangerous.”

Tong also questioned whether the government would use the national security law as a threat to deter union activities, despite Nip offering her reassurances at the meeting.

Another civil servants' group, the Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association, cited the government as saying that it was still consulting legal advice on the penalties to be instituted for breaching the oath.

“We hope the government won’t immediately jump to the conclusion of firing civil servants once they determine an oath has been breached,” association chairperson Lee Fong-chung said, calling for fair procedures to determine the penalties.

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